I just bought a used 2005 Ford Focus zx4 that has 100700 miles on it. When i start it up its really loud and the whole car has a general vibration to it. I've researched it and thought it to be the motor mount but I saw a video of a guy who had a motor mount problem and his vibration was violent. Mine isn't completely obnoxious like that its just a constant low vibration. I'm having a mechanic look at it tomorrow but I figured i'd check here to get some opinions on what to look for.

I would start by changing the plugs, then maybe the fuel filter. Bad plugs give you vibration when in idle, as well as a bad, clogged filter. If no fix, then have a mechanic that knows what he's doing take a look @ it. Good luck!!

Is this your first First Generation Focus (98-05) with the DOHC Zetec? If so, you may be overreacting - I have 2 of those cars - both have that same low vibration - you gotta keep in mind that the Zetec 16v DOHC engine is a high-performance race engine and the Gen 1 body is too light of a body for that car to sound like a smooth as silk Cadillac.

The motor mounts are easy to pull - just put the front of the car up on jackstands and use a floor jack with a piece of wood to support the transmission and oil pan then do them one at a time - you will want to buy a Craftsman Torx socket set from Sears (not the bits, the sockets) - if you don't have Torx sockets.

If the car is an automatic, it's easy to check motor mounts. Pop the hood, have someone sit in the car. Put the car in gear with one foot on the brake, and then give the engine gas. The engine will lurch if the motor mount is bad. You'll see more than 1" of movement. If it's ok, then you won't see much movement when you give the engine gas with a foot on the brake.

If the car is an automatic, it's easy to check motor mounts. Pop the hood, have someone sit in the car. Put the car in gear with one foot on the brake, and then give the engine gas. The engine will lurch if the motor mount is bad. You'll see more than 1" of movement. If it's ok, then you won't see much movement when you give the engine gas with a foot on the brake.

That's a good post and sounds like a real easy way to check them. Question, why are the vibrations so bad when the car is first cranked-cold "versus" after warm up ?

I have nearly the exact problem and I'm replacing the transmission mount. I have this problem when the car is cold and more so in revese. My guess as to the reason why it's worse when cold is simply that once there is enough heat from the engine, the bushings expand, eliminating the slop or hardness that causes vibration when cold. The trans, engine, and torque strut mount all seem quite easy to replace and the parts are cheap.

If plugs then motor will not be running evenly, plugs on these show bad under load first meaning if you waited till it showed up at idle you are blind indeed. Fuel filter shows up under load first too........

Whynot (luv ya!) is speaking of test for a VISIBLY BROKEN mount, these cars can commonly vibrate when mount gets loose but not broken. Test is useful but does not necessarily mean everything. The pass side almost never broken externally but is in effect inside. It may look fine but be dead. DON'T buy anything other than Ford part, the aftermarket has shown repeatedly they cannot make quality long lasting mounts for these cars. Many will vibrate worse than your broken one right out of the box.

People seem to think for some arcane reason that if they can see the motor vibrate visibly that means something? Nope. If the damper method is working correctly there is no way you can correlate engine movement to actual vibration going into the chassis. ALL 4 cylinders vibrate unless they are equipped with balance shaft. A function of engine design.......

Too light a body? You gotta be kidding. More like they cheaped out and dropped the 4th engine mount that would have stopped all of this. All earlier Ford FWD compacts had 4 point mounts instead of the 3 on these and they don't shake badly even when one mount torn in half. The body itself has a pretty substantial subframe running all the way around the front. Ford yanks engine/trans by putting a hoist on top of the inner fenderline, which speaks scads of how stiff and stout the front box is.

To OP, if you think mounts do the passenger side one first, that one almost always gets the most result. The back of trans mount easy enough to diagnose, when driving if you feel a clunk when getting on or off power at times, well there it is. Never seen one bad on these that didn't show up there first. Pull airbox and look for rubber crumblies all around the trans top mount, you can often see the top cross bar has separated from the rest of the mount.

"...these cars can commonly vibrate when mount gets loose but not broken. Test is useful but does not necessarily mean everything. The pass side almost never broken externally but is in effect inside. It may look fine but be dead. ..."

"... Pull airbox and look for rubber crumblies all around the trans top mount, you can often see the top cross bar has separated from the rest of the mount...."

Almost never broken externally - and then you tell him to look for rubber crumblies and a separated crossbar? I think you need to reword that one.

By too light a body I mean too light a body compared to a slushmobile like a full size car or a van or a SUV. It's not too light of a body for what it is - an economy car that has some iterations with a sporty engine (the Zetec and Duratec) and a lot more interations with the throwaway engine (The SOHC) A smaller car is just plain noisier than a midsize or large car or van. That's part of the fun of driving them after all. The OP didn't say what he was comparing it to.

The thing is that your not saying exactly HOW to determine if a mount is "internally broken" So if the OP inspects all the mounts - and finds no physical evidence of breakage - and the "test for the motor jumping around" doesen't show anything wrong - then which mount is it? He's got no choice but to replace all 3 - and cross his fingers and hope that solves the problem. Well even if you go online your talking $150 at least for a set of 3 Ford mounts - thats an awful lot just to replace mounts that are still doing their job of holding the engine in the bay. $150 will get you a decent stereo that will drown out your low vibration. :-)

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